To me, I’d rather watch a movie in SD with effective use of deleted scenes than a movie in HD missing out on its full storyline potential.
I think the problem with the deleted scenes is more about film damage.
I agree, it is problematic. I’ve seen several people attempt to clean them up with amazing results, but no one has had the ambition to follow through on it. Perhaps someone will go to such lengths as to make the scenes passable as SD footage.
I will be forever haunted by the fanedit that will never come to pass, and which I will only fail at myself: Star Wars: The Lost Cut. Ryan McAvoy did an amazing job incorporating deleted material, and it was acceptable because he deliberately lowered the standard so that the whole movie was black and white and would have eventually had film damage throughout. It gave it character, yet allowed for the deleted scenes to be reintroduced. I loved it and wanted to see it completed, but he didn’t feel he could do it justice and gave up permanently 😦
I feel a “Lost Cut” could be made for all three OT films and would be a lot of fun!